Silicon Valley's New Slogan: Let's Get Physical - Business Insider
OpenAI is also ramping up its investment in robotics, a sharp reversal from 2020, when the company shuttered the project behind a robotic hand that could solve a Rubik's Cube.
Key takeaways
The most recent developments in humanoid robotics show a rapid shift from research prototypes toward scalable production and standardized evaluation. Nvidia announced a partnership with Chinese startup Unitree to supply the Isaac Root research platform, integrating Nvidia’s Blackwell AI chip into Unitree’s H2 Plus humanoid body and making the system available to universities such as Stanford and ETH Zurich later this year. At the same time Nvidia released an open‑source Isaac GR00T reference design that couples a Unitree H2 Plus chassis, Sharpa five‑fingered hands and Jetson Thor compute for advanced perception and control, aiming to democratize frontier humanoid research. Figure AI reported that its BotQ factory has boosted Figure 03 output from one unit per day to one per hour within 120 days, surpassing 350 third‑generation robots and achieving an overall first‑pass yield above 80 percent while deploying internal fleet‑management, OTA updates and diagnostic tools. 1X Technologies also began full‑scale production of its low‑noise NEO humanoid at a new Hayward, California plant, targeting domestic‑space applications. In parallel, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology has proposed its first baseline performance benchmark for humanoid robots, seeking a common metric after a decade of varied marketing claims. Industry giants are expanding their robotics arms as well: OpenAI is hiring for a humanoid lab, Meta acquired Assured Robot Intelligence to bolster its AI‑driven humanoid models, Tesla’s Optimus is slated for public sales by the end of 2027, and Hyundai‑owned Boston Dynamics plans to field tens of thousands of Atlas units in factories by 2028.
OpenAI is also ramping up its investment in robotics, a sharp reversal from 2020, when the company shuttered the project behind a robotic hand that could solve a Rubik's Cube. The team is teaching a robotic arm how to perform household tasks as part of an effort to build a humanoid robot, Business Insider reported earlier this year. OpenAI currently has job openings for several roles in its robotics lab, including machine learning engineers, data acquisition managers, and 3D printing technicians.
Meta, too, is bolstering its robotics efforts. Last month, the company acquired humanoid robotics startup Assured Robot Intelligence for an undisclosed sum. The startup was building AI models for humanoid robots, and its team joined Meta's AI unit, Superintelligence Labs. The big wildcard is Tesla. Elon Musk has repeatedly described Optimus as central to Tesla's future, but the company has disclosed few details about the humanoid robot's progress. Musk said at the World Economic Forum earlier this year that Tesla would probably sell Optimus robots to the public by the end of 2027 and that the robots were already doing simple tasks at Tesla's factories.
Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics is also pushing toward industrial use, with Hyundai planning to deploy tens of thousands of Atlas humanoids in its factories by 2028. Agility Robotics is further along in commercial deployments. Its Digit humanoid has been deployed with customers including Amazon, GXO, Schaeffler, and Mercado Libre.
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By Rya Jetha
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